Fuel economy of vehicles is important. The automotive industry is working diligently to increase the fuel economy of vehicles by various means that include, but are not limited to: mass reduction, aerodynamics, active fuel management engines, direct injection engines, homogeneous charge compression ignition engines, and hybrid engines. However, other mechanisms and energy sources are continually sought to increase fuel economy.
It is generally known that engines vibrate during operation. The engine vibrations have been typically considered to be undesirable and significant efforts have been made to dissipate and insulate such engine vibrations from the vehicle compartment. Therefore, any energy associated with the vibration produced by the engine is currently lost through absorption or dissipation of the energy into the air, vehicle structure, or other component attached to the engine. However, the ability to capture and utilize energy associated with engine vibrations would provide a valuable energy source that can be used to increase fuel economy and the ability to harness such energy while continuing to at least partially insulate such vibrations from the passenger compartment of the vehicle would greatly benefit the automotive industry and may other vehicle industries.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide methods for generating power for a vehicle with engine vibrations. In addition, it is desirable to provide an apparatus for generating power for a vehicle with engine vibrations. Furthermore, other desirable benefits, features, and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary, detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.